The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, Regional Senior Partner, PwC West Africa, Uyi Akpata and others, yesterday, urged the corporate community to embrace smart technology to transform the economy and boost performances.
They spoke at the unveiling of PwC’s new Experience Centre in Lagos. The centre joins the expanding eco-system of over 30 such facilities owned by the leading global professional services worldwide.
Represented by the Director-General, Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, the vice president said the centre is in line with the administration’s plan to improve the ease of doing business, transform the economy and boost technology adoption.
He said the country’s economic breakthrough would be driven by technology/innovation and not oil and gas.
“The PwC Experience Centre is in line with the smart technology initiative of the government. As an administration, we recognise that Nigeria’s future does not lie in oil and gas but more in technology and innovation. This is anchored on moving the economy away from a resource-based to a people-based model. We must take this seriously going forward,” Osinbajo said.
Also, Sanwo-Olu, who took out time to experiment with the virtual reality solution of the centre, said the centre reflects the state government’s plan to transform the city’s economy with smart solutions. He urged other corporate entities to take a cue from PwC and take advantage of the government’s technology agenda.
Sanwo-Olu said: “I think the PwC initiative is the way to go. It is in line with what Lagos State government is doing to boost the economy. I encourage other companies to see it as a challenge and begin to tap into the opportunities the government is creating”
Ovia, who chaired the event, said businesses stand a chance to triple growth rate and earnings through innovation and technology. The options are to “innovate and transform or die”, he said. He said the Centre is a product of new thinking, ading that the firm has again demonstrated its leadership role through the initiative.
Through the centre, the firm is expanding its digital services and innovative solution offerings across West Africa.
Speaking on the initiative, Akpata said: “The Centre, the first of its kind by a professional services firm in West Africa combines creativity, research, existing knowledge and strategic insight with a new structured way of solving problems. This unique, modular, flexible concept supports PwC’s clients’ teams in exploring, designing and building user-centric solutions, ranging from re-imagining customer experiences to fully transforming business models and creating new eco-systems.”
The use of emerging technologies is pivotal to this designing process.
“The Experience Centre is an important part of our broader drive to transform how we engage with our clients, our people and our community to re-imagine the possible in a fast changing and competitive market. This Centre will drive our thinking around disruption and the emerging technologies. It will also provide us a platform to support clients, working with them to co-create solutions that meet today and future business challenges. It will also allow us experiment from prototypes, simulate scenarios, see how it’s going to work, test it and see that they meet the needs of the client and the market.”
Also, Femi Osinubi, Partner and Experience Centre Leader, PwC West Africa, noted: “At the PwC Experience Centre, we balance business understanding with technology innovation and human insights. Simply put, we are harnessing the power of intelligent digital and we will be asking the tough questions. We will not just be solving client problems; we will actually be building entirely new businesses, whole new platforms that have not been considered before. We shall draw out value within the market in areas where we can combine Business, Technology and Experience but underpinned by deep customer insights.”